World Cup Update

The USA played much better in it's second game. Although we tied Italy 1-1, we didn't actually score the goal as it was an own-goal, kicked in by an Italian player.

On my suggestion, Coach Arena pulled Landon Donovan back into the midfield and replaced Demarcus Beasley in the starting lineup with Clint Dempsey, who was easily the best USA player on Saturday. To advance out of group play, the US will have to beat Ghana on Thursday. We might actually have to score a goal to do that. Do I hear "Eddie Johnson"?

Soccer names bother me.

There is a defender for Argentina named "Hienze".

Looks like it would be pronounced the same as a well known catsup brand, right.

Wrong, it is pronounced "Heen-Say"

Then there is the French player whose name is pronounced "Hon-Ree", but it is spelled "Henry".

That is why the Brazil game this weekend was so refreshing. A Brazilian sub came into the game and scored a goal. The guy and the team went crazy because the guy was obviously a grub. His name was both spelled and pronounced "Fred".

Hundreds of Dutch fans had to watch their team’s 2-1 win over the Ivory Coast in their underwear in Stuttgart on Friday after stewards at entry points to the stadium rumbled an ambush marketing ploy.

The Netherlands supporters all turned up in garish orange lederhosen displaying the name of Dutch brewery Bavaria and were ordered to remove them by stewards before being allowed to enter the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion.

They then went into the match and watched it in their underwear.

Anheuser Busch’s Budweiser is the official beer for the tournament and world football’s governing body fiercely protects its sponsors from brands which are not FIFA partners.